The Simpleton Is On Vacation--Enjoy The Video Clips

Living In Denial

I am not a doctor, but it is obvious to me that our Honorable Speaker is living in a state of clinical denial. Next she will transform back into Super-Catholic and start lecturing us about "the Word."

The threat of losing her job is starting to grate on here. Get the straight jacket.

Pelosi Guarantees Dems Will Retain House In November

By Matt DeLong

Earlier this week, House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) made a bold prediction about how his party will fare in the November, but House speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is kicking the trash-talk up a notch.

In a new fundraising email from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Pelosi guarantees in no uncertain terms that Democrats will retain control of the House of Representatives.

Here is what will happen in November: Democrats will keep control of the House. Period.

Pelosi adds that she's got a secret weapon up her sleeve to ensure triumph ... you!

Vernon J. Baker, American Hero-R.I.P

Vernon J. Baker is an American hero. His story is a "must read." Vernon J. Baker died July 13, 2010.

The Gulf Coast Simpleton salutes this Medal of Honor recipient. May he RIP.

In April 1945, then-2nd Lt. Baker was one of the few black officers serving in the segregated 92nd Infantry Division near the northern Italian village of Viareggio.

He and his 25 men were ordered to lead an assault on Castle Aghinolfi, a heavily guarded mountain fortress on the western end of the Gothic Line, a series of fortified bunkers considered to be the one of the last lines of German defense toward the end of the war.

Two hours after starting their mission on April 5, Lt. Baker and his men came within 300 yards of the castle. While attempting to find a suitable place for a machine gun, Lt. Baker observed two rifle barrels hanging out of a concealed slit in some rocky earth.

After stealthily crawling to the opening, he popped up and emptied the clip of his M-1 rifle into the observation post, killing two sentries.

While searching for more camouflaged emplacements, Lt. Baker spotted a machine-gun nest occupied by two soldiers distracted by their breakfast. He shot and killed them both.

A German soldier then hurled a grenade that landed at Lt. Baker's feet. Undeterred, he fired two fatal rounds at the fleeing German, while the grenade by Lt. Baker's boots failed to explode.

He found the door to another bunker and blasted it open with a grenade. A wounded German soldier stumbled out in confusion, and Lt. Baker shot him. After tossing in a second grenade, he raided the bunker with a submachine gun blazing, killing two more Germans.

On the way back to his men, Lt. Baker saw that his platoon's position had come under heavy machine gun and mortar fire. He watched in despair as 19 of his men were cut down by bullets or wounded by shrapnel.

Even though he'd been shot in the hand, Lt. Baker led the evacuation of his remaining men, helping to eliminate two machine-gun nests and four more German troops.

In the midst of the retreat, Lt. Baker's platoon came across German soldiers wearing helmets painted with red crosses carrying litters covered with blankets.

His shellshocked men urged him to let them fire, but Lt. Baker refused. When the platoon came within 50 yards of the supposed medics, the Germans dropped their stretchers and picked up machine guns.

"Hit the bastards!" Lt. Baker instructed his men, according to his 1997 memoir "Lasting Valor." "Our riflemen cut loose with a vengeance. . . . The enemy platoon dissolved."

On July 4, 1945, Lt. Baker received the Distinguished Service Cross, the military's second highest decoration for his actions in Italy. Upon receiving the Medal of Honor 52 years later, he burst into tears.

To read the entire Washington Post article, click on the blog post title or copy and paste this: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/14/AR2010071405693.html?sub=AR

Trial Lawyers Cashing In Under Obama

Are they fat cats or are they pigs? I would say both.

I am glad to see someone is doing well financially under the Obama administration. Read the article and try not to barf:

Payday: Trial Lawyers Could Get Major Tax Cut Despite Major Federal Deficit

By Chris Moody-The Daily Caller

After years of filling Democratic coffers with massive campaign donations, trial lawyers are cashing in their chips with a sweetheart deal from the government that will save the industry billions of dollars over the next few years.

According to a Legal Newsline report from the annual meeting of the American Association for Justice, the nation’s lobbying arm for trial lawyers, the industry may get a tax break from the U.S. Treasury Department that would give trial lawyers the ability to write off expenses involved in contingency fee cases much in the same way businesses write off expenses. But unlike businesses, lawyers will benefit from the tax write-off in addition to the fee they charge clients.

“They’re trying to get the best of both worlds,” said Christopher Appel, an attorney in the public policy group at the Washington-based law firm Shook, Hardy, and Bacon. “It’s not really a business expense. It’s a loan made to the other person the attorney fully expects to get back.”

Congress shot down a similar provision in 2009 that would have given trial lawyers a tax break on contingency fee lawsuits. An analysis of the bill at the time concluded that such a measure would ensure the government pays up to 40 percent of the costs involved in filing lawsuits. Now, it appears the group will get the tax break without having to go through the legislative process.

To read the whole sickening article, get your barf bag and click the blog post title or copy and paste this: http://dailycaller.com/2010/07/15/payday-trial-lawyers-could-get-major-tax-cut-despite-major-federal-deficit/#ixzz0tlIZlnJa

Obama Now Screwing Farmers

Thomas Jefferson extolled the virtues of the agrarian life. To Jefferson, the American farmer embodied the American ideals of hard work, rugged individualism, and the virutues of local and limited government. Now, the long hand of Obama--under the guise of "reforming unbridled Wall Street capitalism"--is screwing over American farmers. Controllng farmers from Washington DC is reminiscent of Russian/Eastern European collectivism.

Read the clip from today's Wall Street Journal article and grab your pitchfork:

GILTNER, Neb.—Farmer Jim Kreutz uses derivatives to soften the blow should the price of feed corn drop before harvest. His brother-in-law, feedlot owner Jon Reeson, turns to them to hedge the price of his steer. The local farmers' co-op uses derivatives to finance fixed-price diesel for truckers who carry cattle to slaughter. And the packing plant employs derivatives to stabilize costs from natural gas to foreign currencies.

Far from Wall Street, President Barack Obama's financial regulatory overhaul, which may pass Congress as early as Thursday, will leave tracks across the wide-open landscape of American industry.

Designed to fix problems that helped cause the financial crisis, the bill will touch storefront check cashiers, city governments, small manufacturers, home buyers and credit bureaus, attesting to the sweeping nature of the legislation, the broadest revamp of finance rules since the 1930s.

To read the whole Wall Street Journal article, click on the blog post title or copy and paste this: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704258604575361182317501188.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_LEFTTopStories

Gross: Sewer Fat

How is this for GROSS? Accumulated sewer fat--SICK!

Enough fat to fill nine double-decker buses is being removed from sewers under London's Leicester Square.

A team of 'flushers' equipped with full breathing apparatus has been drafted in with shovels to dig out an estimated 1,000 tonnes of clogged up fat.

'Sewer abuse': The build-up of fat is the result of people washing material other than water down their drains, such as cooking oil.

Powerful jets are also being employed to break the stinking mass down. The task to shift the disgusting matter could easily make the shortlist for Britain's worst jobs, but workers set about it with professionalism today.

The operation, which began in the early hours of this morning, is claimed to be the largest-ever sewer clean-up of its kind.

The build-up is the result of years of 'sewer abuse' - when anything other than water, human waste and toilet paper is put down drains - according to Thames Water.

Danny Brackley, the water company's sewer flusher, said: 'We're used to getting our hands dirty, but nothing on this scale.'We couldn't even access the sewer as it was blocked by a four-foot wall of solid fat.'

The clean-up is expected to last a couple of weeks.

Thames Water spends £12 million a year clearing around 55,000 sewer blockages across London and the Thames Valley.

To read the Daily Mail story, click the blog post title or copy and paste this: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1294333/Is-worst-job-Britain-Workers-sent-blocked-sewer-remove-1-000-TONNES-putrid-fat.html#ixzz0tcDvbDma

Stir Crazy Clip - Meet Grossberger

I thought you might enjoy another Grossberger clip. Enjoy!

Stir Crazy Clip - Grossberger Sings "Down In The Valley"

Remember this touching scene from Stir Crazy?

Bin Laden Hunter -- Interviews

This 9 minute interview is worth watching. I say give the guy a .50 caliber sniper rifle and send him back.

UPDATE: Below is the Faulkner on the David Letterman Show. It is a brief, light-hearted interview. Enjoy.

Obligatory Sarah Palin Post -- "Mama Grizzlies"

Don't you just love how Sarah drives the Left berzerk? Go Sarah!

The Great Bacon Odyssey: One Burger, Ten Strips Of Bacon!

Oh yeah! This burger from GeekDad is right up my alley. The chef used uncured bacon to keep the salt level tolerable to his circulatory system. Then, he chased it down with a very stout beer--the Dogfish Head 90-minute IPA--to help cut the richness of the fat.

My wife would love the burger but pass on the beer.

The Great Bacon Odyssey was prepared as follows:

I began by putting down some aluminum foil on a kitchen counter, because I didn’t want to have to scrub down the counter afterward to get rid of the raw bacon smell. I created a lattice, weaving five vertical strips with five horizontal. I then placed the perfectly ordinary, roughly 1/3lb hamburger my lovely wife had made in the center of the lattice. I tried to neatly enclose the burger in the lattice, but the bottom became a bit of a mess regardless. The top looked very nice, though, if I do say so myself (see the picture, above).

I cooked it using my oven’s broiler, the burger set on a rack over a Pyrex dish to catch rendered fat. Burgers of course taste better on a grill, but consider how many flareups ten strips of bacon would create and you’ll see why I chose not to go that route. I had to trim a few of the strips’ ends when cooking the bottom side, because they got a wee bit too close to the heating element and set off all the smoke detectors in my home. At most, though, I cut off a half-strip’s worth (and probably less), so my experiment was not terribly compromised.

And then I put it on a bun, with an excellent Dogfish Head 90-Minute IPA to wash it down, and I proceeded to eat the whole thing. It was really, really good! The burger was probably the juiciest burger I’ve ever eaten, which I suppose makes perfect sense. Probably due to the bacon being uncured, I was able to stand the saltiness, leaving the richness of the pork fat the only obstacle to consumption. The hoppiness of my chosen beer helped cut the richness of the fat enough that I was able to eat the burger in less time than it took my kids to eat their bacon-wrapped hot dogs. And I even had room for corn and a little dessert afterward.

To read the whole article, click on the blog post title or copy and paste this: http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2010/07/the-great-bacon-odyssey-one-burger-ten-strips-of-bacon/#ixzz0t6FjWQSB

Hat tip to David McComb. Thanks for the tip!

Friends of Obama and Holder--Oh, Brother!

If you watch the video closely, you will see a bi-racial couple and a Mennonite lady walking by. Mennonites are pacifists. The irony is incredible.

Obama's Justice Department dismissed voter intimidation charges on this dangerous man. The lack of public outrage is also disturbing. Hail to the Chief.

Click on the blog post title to read some commmentary from HotAir.com.

Alan Jackson -- "Blessed Assurance"

Anyone wanna start a Cowboy Church? I am willing to preach if we can get Alan Jackson to do the music.

Deliverance --"Dueling Banjos"

Remember this one? It'll make the redneck in you come out!!!

Otis McDonald--American Hero

Otis McDonald is an American hero! A working-class man who lived an honest life and felt helpless as his Chicago neighborhood spiraled downward into the gang and drug culture prevalent in most US cities. Mr. McDonald took his fight to own a hand gun all the way to the US Supreme Court.

In a 5-4 split decision, the Court decided that the Chicago gun-control laws were in violation of McDonald's 2nd Amendment freedoms. Hats off to our 5 Supreme Court justices who still hold to an originalist view of our Constitution and Bill of Rights. The other 4 justices--well--let's just say it is scary that 4 of our 9 justices have such low regard for the 2nd Amendment.

Solution: The US should amend the Constitution to require that Supreme Court Justices be reaffirmed by the Senate every 8 or 10 years.

There are hundreds of articles about McDonald v. City of Chicago. Here are clips from a couple that show some good background to McDonald's story.

High Court To Define Reach Of Gun-Control Laws

By Joan Biskupic, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — In 2008, when national gun rights advocates were looking for residents to challenge Chicago's ban on handguns, Otis McDonald was in effect looking for them. McDonald, 76, says he had seen his neighborhood on the far South Side of Chicago turn from bad to worse over the years with "gangbangers and drug dealers."
"My wife and I are here alone all the time now," says McDonald, a retired maintenance engineer, who with his wife, Laura, reared three children. "I've got burglar alarms hooked into the police department. I have a shotgun, but a handgun (would be) more handy for me to handle."

McDonald got involved with his states gun owner rights organization, the Illinois State Rifle Association. Otis said:

"I said the Lord is hearing my prayer," recalls McDonald of meeting Gura [gun-rights attorney] and other gun rights lawyers in early 2008. "They never pressed me. I'm not doing this for them. I am doing this for me."

McDonald had been trying for years to protect himself and other seniors in the deteriorating neighborhood.

Crime in McDonald's area has been steadily rising, although it is mainly property crime rather than violent assaults, according to Chicago police district statistics. Burglaries and thefts are the most common types of crimes in the district. There were 881 burglaries reported in 2006, 1,109 in 2007 and 1,215 in 2008, the most recent annual report available. There were 17 murders in 2008, a number that has held steady since 2006.

McDonald says he often challenged young drug dealers as they hung around idling cars and warned that he would alert the police: "They'd just call me, 'You old gray-headed so-and-so' and say they'd get me."

McDonald took the threats seriously.

When he first got involved with the Illinois State Rifle Association, he was a rare voice from his South Side neighborhood.

"I was probably the only black at that first meeting" in Springfield, McDonald says. "I met a lot of people. Everybody was friendly." The Army veteran adds that "it was like a bunch of old GIs getting together. ... I liked their message."

The Gulf Coast Simpleton would like to give a 4th of July salute to Otis McDonald--American Hero.

Mug Shot Of The Year

How is this for a mug shot? Pretty, ain't he? Fortunately, this is not a Corpus Christi resident.

Convicted Felon Had Pot, Guns Near School

EAST PRICE HILL - A convicted felon was arrested and charged Wednesday with growing a large amount of marijuana inside his home near a school.

Cincinnati police said they also recovered two handguns and a rifle from Robert Prosser’s residence in the 3000 block of Glenway Avenue, which is just around the corner from Rees E. Price School on Considine Avenue in East Price Hill.

Prosser, 49, was booked into the Hamilton County jail just before midnight on charges of possession of drugs, possession of drug paraphernalia, cultivation of marijuana and illegally having firearms.

In court Thursday, Prosser's attorney said his client is recovering from cancer, possibly alluding that the marijuana was for personal and medicinal use, which is also illegal in Ohio.

The attorney also said that police went through the yard without a search warrant.

The allegation set off Judge Cheryl Grant, who paused and said, "Wait a minute. I signed it."

When Prosser asked the judge if he could speak, Grant fired back sternly, "No."

She ordered Prosser to be held on a $10,000 bond.

A previous felony conviction for a violent offense prohibits him from having guns, according to court documents.

He was growing some 33 marijuana plants inside his home, police said.

Hat tip to HotAir.com.

Battle Video From Afghanistan--Taliban Ambush Of Brits

Here is a good video of British soldiers being ambushed by Taliban insurgents in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. The British soldier who got shot in the face received only three stitches and was back on patrol the next day. GUTS!

The video is copywrited by The Sun newspaper, so I am unable to embed the video. To watch the whole skirmish, click on the blog post title or copy and paste this:

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/video/article300101.ece?vxSiteId=0bc72527-aa8e-4487-a5e8-94aae448c9dd&vxChannel=Sun%20Exclusive&vxClipId=1347_SUN46302&vxBitrate=300

I will try to embed and post the video as soon as possible.